A New Cat Color Is Defying Genetic Expectations

https://www.popularmechanics.com/science/a65625078/new-cat-color-discovered-genes/

71 points · 12 comments · view on lemmy.world

12 Comments

Durandal@lemmy.today · 26 pts · 354d

"Babe come quick! The new cat color just dropped!"

yumpsuit@lemmy.world · 19 pts · 354d (3 replies)

…But there’s officially a new cat color in town: salmiak, or ‘salty liquorice.’ You can see one here.

The pretty black, white, and grey shade—named for a popular snack food in Finland, where this coat color has been making itself known—is thanks to a fur strand that starts off black near the root, but grows whiter and whiter out towards the tip. The coat was first spotted in 2007, and in 2019, it was brought to the attention of a group of cat experts lead by feline geneticist Heidi Anderson. 

Since then, the group has been trying to figure out exactly what causes this shade to express itself, and recently, they finally figured it out. A paper on the discovery has been published in the journal Animal Genetics.

cyborganism@piefed.ca · 17 pts · 354d (1 reply)

salty liquorice

Tell me the researchers are Finnish without telling me they are Finnish.

eleitl@lemmy.zip · 2 pts · 353d

Salmiakki.

johnny_deadeyes@piefed.social · 7 pts · 354d

Heck of a name. Sounds more of a cat flavor.

taiyang@lemmy.world · 16 pts · 354d (2 replies)

Darn, I was hoping for Vantacat.

AbidanYre@lemmy.world · 5 pts · 353d

Only Anish Kapoor is legally allowed to have Vantacats.

TheMinister@sh.itjust.works · 2 pts · 353d

That’s honestly exactly what I was thinking. Maybe it was the silhouette photo that brought it to mind

EvilBit@lemmy.world · 9 pts · 354d

Cat science is best science.

iamanurd@midwest.social · 6 pts · 354d

Want.

DeathsEmbrace@lemmy.world · 5 pts · 353d

Its not defying genetic expectations and these people shouldnt be allowed to make articles with these titles its fraudulent.

Una@piefed.europe.pub · 4 pts · 354d

meow meow :)